Some VCU students boycott companies that support Israel
Companies and products that people are boycotting due to the companies' support for Israel. Illustrations by Johnnie Watkins.
Sarah Hagen, Contributing Writer
Jack Glagola, Contributing Writer
“Every time you buy Starbucks, you are supporting genocide. Your Starbucks mocha cannot be worth it,” said Sereen Haddad, a Palestinian VCU student and speaker at the walkout rally on Nov. 9.
Starbucks and McDonald’s, among others, are targets of boycotts against companies who are said to support the state of Israel or its military in the midst of the Israel-Hamas war, according to Yahoo Finance.
Starbucks distanced themselves from a pro-Palestine message posted by Starbucks Workers United, which drew criticism on social media and sparked a lawsuit, according to CBS; and a McDonald’s franchisee in Israel donated free meals to Israeli soldiers — however, franchisees in other countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar pledged aid to Gaza, according to Reuters.
“This boycott, it’s not just a day thing, it’s not just a week thing, it’s until they stop supporting,” Haddad said. “This is not a trend.”
Students shared that they found out about companies to boycott from social media. Kimberly Portillo, a second-year student, said that unlike traditional media, which is “not covering those kinds of things,” social media can provide a reason to boycott.
“It is important because it’s easy to do some of these things blindly, and to me, it’s really important to do things being knowledgeable and educated on a cause,” Portillo said.
Aidan Phalan, a second-year sculpture major, said he is boycotting everything on the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions list, a short, shifting list of companies that are targeted for boycotts on account of their support for Israel.
“It’s pretty easy to boycott all those things, I don’t need McDonald’s, Starbucks. I canceled Disney and Hulu,” Phalan said.
He said boycotting is one of the simplest things to do to support Palestine.
“The only thing the American government listens to is action and money, so boycotting is really important to really show how you feel,” Phalan said.
Farhan Nahin, a second-year mechanical engineering major, said money makes a bigger difference than pressuring elected officials.
“That’s kind of a bleak reality, but it is the reality — they’re not really going to start taking us seriously until they start facing financial repercussions for it,” Nahin said.
Boycotted businesses like Starbucks and McDonald’s began offering discounts to customers, such as half-off drinks at the former, according to the New York Post, and “Free Fries Fridays” at the latter, according to Fortune.
“That’s a really good sign that we’re actually making a difference with these boycotts,” Nahin said.
Junior sociology student Selma Ait-Bella believes it is important to stick with boycotts long-term. Ait-Bella said they can be a “really long, grueling” process, but it is a small way to consume in an activist way.
“I think just acknowledging that it’s a slow process,” Ait-Bella said. “You as an individual want to receive instant gratification, and it’s one part of that larger picture of standing in solidarity with people facing oppression.”
Boycotts usually hurt a company’s reputation more than their revenue because people who publicly denounce companies might still buy their products, according to a study by Northwestern University’s Institute for Policy Research.
“These headline-grabbing boycotts lead to a greater fall in stock prices and are more likely to cause a company to change its behavior,” the study states.
The Virginia Senate proposed legislation at the beginning of this year prohibiting “public bodies” from entering into contracts greater than $100,000 with contractors that have previously boycotted Israel. The bill passed indefinitely in the General Laws and Technology committee, according to Virginia’s Legislative Information System.
“The bill requires any such contractor seeking to contract with a public body under the provisions of the Virginia Public Procurement Act to certify in writing that it will not, during the performance of the contract, boycott Israel,” the bill states.
Correction: A previous version of this article generalized that Starbucks and McDonald’s support the state of Israel or its military amid the Israel-Hamas war and did not clarify what actions Starbucks and McDonald’s made that inspired boycotts.
